[link to www.pe.com] snipLeaders at the sprawling Marine base in Twentynine Palms have unveiled their latest training ground: a mock city the size of downtown San Diego with hotels, markets, a hospital, tunnels and a soccer stadium large enough to land four helicopters.

and this at a cost of 170 million of our money.

with all this, there is still the need to use our streets for driver ed...and our city buildings as a helicopter obstacle course!

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

Um, I'm pretty sure it's not your military.

Quoting: Psammetichus

so what are you saying?

we have been invaded?

or this is all a hologram?

sorry it is real and yes Virgina...it is our troops.

do not get side tracked by silliness.

this is too important.

what we are talking about here is not from the fringe.our military is actively using our cities and towns for training missions....even though they have their own high tech multi-million dollar training grounds.

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

?

this is too important.

what we are talking about here is not from the fringe.our military is actively using our cities and towns for training missions....even though they have their own high tech multi-million dollar training grounds.

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

Okay, so I'm not trying to shill here... but ah... are you serious?

The military is using populated areas for PRIVATE training? I could take issue with that statement all day.

Also... I have personally (along with tens of thousands of others who have served in participating JSOC units) 'invaded' LAX's cargo terminal twice in my life in simulated combat jumps into a 'high density urban environ'. There are only so many times one can use Wheeler Sac Air Field as a target for training... eventually you have to train as you would fight, and that means annual training exercises in real world environs.

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

Your right OP, its in preparation for martial law.

Quoting: skyblau

Well, Minneapolis with all those liberal Swedes and Norwegians is just a hotbed of revolution that needs to be proactively suppressed.

"Snicker".

It is a little troubling that they are using an urban area of over 3 million as a training ground. The UH-60 is a twin engine helicopter so they would almost have to have tail rotor problems to be in serious trouble.

On looking through UH-60 accident reports they don't have a lot of "mechanical" failures - although they do have problem with stuff in the cabin getting caught under the controls. Most of the crashes are CFIT (controlled flight into terrain). UH-60s run into each other with a frightening frequency. An F15C actually shot down two of them, but that isn't likely over Minneapolis.

Bottom line - it is a safe helicopter if the pilot is good, but an odd place to practice.

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

Okay, so I'm not trying to shill here... but ah... are you serious?

The military is using populated areas for PRIVATE training? I could take issue with that statement all day.

Also... I have personally (along with tens of thousands of others who have served in participating JSOC units) 'invaded' LAX's cargo terminal twice in my life in simulated combat jumps into a 'high density urban environ'. There are only so many times one can use Wheeler Sac Air Field as a target for training... eventually you have to train as you would fight, and that means annual training exercises in real world environs.

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

These reports do tend to bring out the shills, OP, maybe some are bots too. Who knows. But I will say when I read a theory or unproven story on the internet and suddenly the shills come out in droves to "debunk" it or make ridiculous counter-claims, my level of interest and belief jumps 10 fold.

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

Okay, so I'm not trying to shill here... but ah... are you serious?

The military is using populated areas for PRIVATE training? I could take issue with that statement all day.

Also... I have personally (along with tens of thousands of others who have served in participating JSOC units) 'invaded' LAX's cargo terminal twice in my life in simulated combat jumps into a 'high density urban environ'. There are only so many times one can use Wheeler Sac Air Field as a target for training... eventually you have to train as you would fight, and that means annual training exercises in real world environs.

So, where have you been?

Quoting: Anonymous Coward 22025063

stop right there!no no the US military does not have the right to freaking bring their freaking high freaking tech toys, tanks, and freaking BLACK HAWK freaking helicopters into my city...on my block.

NO....FREAKING NO! NO just NO.

we did not need to do this during WWI or WWIIor for any of the missions we did in Europe or anywhere else in the world over the many years.

so now because we are invading cities in the middle east....we need to play war games in FREAKING DOWNTOWN Minneapolis? NO!

if this is because the need to train to become the oppressor / occupier of yet another county....then....DON'T GO THERE!

OR then kindly return the FREAKING 170 million dollars for the new high tech mock city where they can even land FREAKING black hawk helicopters on the roofs!please give it all back!

what is going to happen the first time there is a equipment failure and one of these high tech toys takes out a building?

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

i was going to post about this yesterday but i was too upset. i was actually crying,which is probably what they want.they did "alert" the public in a very lame and tiny section of the local online newspaper. it was both minneapolis and saint paul, the twin cities.i used to live in saint paul and have since moved out of the city. but even where i was i could hear way more than normal air traffic.my friends who lived in my old neighbourhood said that even tho they knew it was "just an excercise" it was unnerving and freaked them out. they were flying really low and landing on top of rooftops.a friend of a friend had a helicopter hovering outside their window for almost 1/2 an hour.

i lived over there when they had the last RNC and it was full on riot police and horses and snipers on top of the children's science museum, i kid you not. tear gas the whole 9 yards right outside my window and i had a baby who was only a few months old at the time. it was scary.

you know when they come HERE that shit is getting really fuct.

here is the "heads up in the paper here:

"If you hear or see low-flying black helicopters in St. Paul or Minneapolis, police are telling the public not to be alarmed -- they're part of training missions.

"It's going to be an unusual occurrence, and we don't want people to overwhelm our 911 center with concerned callers," said Sgt. William Palmer, Minneapolis police spokesman.

U.S. Special Operations Command has been in the two cities for "routine urban-environment training," both police departments said in news releases. Portions of the training include St. Paul police.

Most of the training, which has been coordinated with property owners where it's happening, will be out of public view. The training began Sunday, Aug. 19, and continues through Sept. 1. Starting this Sunday, it may become more visible when "helicopters begin supporting the training," the releases said.

People in St. Paul and Minneapolis might see or hear military transport helicopters -- Black Hawks and smaller Hughes 500s -- between 7 p.m. and midnight.

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

i live in NYC....we are in a half assed police state now.and from time to time i have to have a discussion with my 8 year old son about all this....and my other friends with kids and parents from his classmates talk about this all the time. how to explain it to the kids....my god that just hit me hard!....not how to explain it to my 8 year old....BUT WHY DO I HAVE TO....i thought we lived in America!

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

i live in NYC....we are in a half assed police state now.and from time to time i have to have a discussion with my 8 year old son about all this....and my other friends with kids and parents from his classmates talk about this all the time. how to explain it to the kids....my god that just hit me hard!....not how to explain it to my 8 year old....BUT WHY DO I HAVE TO....i thought we lived in America!

Pink....how do we help our young ones make it through this?

Quoting: psyoptics

i don't know yet how to answer this.my children are 3 and 5.i struggle how to equip them for this.i hope that somehow i am able to somehow give them the right tools to cope with this madness.and part of that teaching will be to instill much knowledge about gardening and proper nutrition. i have to at least start there, with giving them a chance to set their bodies in a natural way and not chemically whacked out by all this BS.that is the only place i know to start for the time being.

i will also try to teach teach them ways to deal with anxiety and how to detach from dysfunctional situations. and how to have proper boundries to protect one's spirit against these assaults.

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

THIS is one reason why I worry about military helicopters training over our cities!

JUST IN... A Virginia Army National Guard helicopter from Sandston was forced to land in a Hanover County cornfield Thursday afternoon, officials said.

The UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter made a precautionary landing around 12:30 p.m. in a field near Old Quaker and Cold Harbor roads, according to Cotton Puryear, Communications Director for the Virginia Department of Military Affairs.

Three soldiers were conducting a routine training mission when they were forced to land. No one was injured. The Black Hawk's sensors alerted the crew that they needed to land and they brought it down safely, under its own power. Mechanics are inspecting the aircraft to see if it can fly safely back to Sandston.

What if this had happened over a more populated area like Miami, Chicago, Worcester or Minneapolis where "urban training exercises" are being conducted? These are the same helicopters being used in those exercises.

Re: When did it become accepted practice for our military to use our populated areas as their private training grounds?

I posted a thread on what's been going on in Syracuse NY - the TV stations even said local authorities were upset they were not being notified of military aircraft flight "training" going on there. And it continues. I drive into there and have taken some videos but my cheap phone won't transfer well.

People have complained and asked "Why are they doing this over residential areas?!" You know what they got? No answer and continual buzzing of KC-10's, attack helicopters, drones - to be expected, convoys clogging traffic....nobody cares anymore.